Is SEC basketball good in 2023-24? It isn’t bad, certainly. But ‘good’ implies a level of depth, not just elite talent at the top.
The SEC has elite talent at the top. Kentucky, Tennessee and Auburn all have legitimate Final Four dreams. Alabama is a quality team. After that, the league looks like a bunch of a borderline NCAA Tournament types.
To us, that means ‘good.’ The league is fun again, anyway, what with teams like Georgia, South Carolina and Ole Miss playing above their recent seasons. Mississippi State is in its usual mid pack. Texas A&M is a bit disappointing, as is Florida, but both are still in the hunt for the Big Dance.
Really, though, it’s silly to do an SEC Power Rankings this early in the year. The cannibalization is already in full effect. Seven of the league’s 14 teams are at either 3-2 or 2-3 and little exists to differentiate them.
Next year, the SEC may be the best conference in the land when Texas and Oklahoma join. For now, we just have to wonder if it is, in fact, ‘good’ at all.
Let’s look at the power rankings after five games.